Ex-minister urges UK to ‘flush out extremists’ in government who back Israeli settlements – POLITICO

Such attacks have increased since the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7 and the taking of more than 200 hostages.

But Duncan, who resigned as an MP in 2019, claimed that Tom Tugendhat, the British security minister, disagreed with criticism of Israeli settlement building – and called for his ouster. “How can we have a security minister in the British government who doesn’t believe in international law when all this is happening? I think he should be sacked,” Duncan told LBC.

Tugendhat has been contacted by POLITICO for comment. His portfolio as security minister does not cover foreign policy and he has not spoken out publicly against the UK government’s current policy towards Israel, which is to condemn illegal settlement building.

Duncan also took shots at several other prominent Conservative figures in the CFI group, urging the House of Lords to remove two Conservative peers – Stuart Polak and Eric Pickles – for “exercising the interests of another country, and not those of the parliament in which ( they sit.”

The ex-minister has meanwhile launched an offensive against Suella Braverman, former minister and standard-bearer of the conservative right, for having visited Israel this week in a personal capacity.

He accused Braverman, who spoke out in favor of Israel during her trip and urged the UK and US to stop “backsliding” in their support for the country, of supporting “the bombing and ‘annihilation of the population of Gaza’.

In an interview with the BBC on Thursday, Braverman called suggestions that Israel might be violating international law through its conduct in Gaza “absurd” and said it was “going beyond the requirements necessary to ensure that the Civilian casualties are limited, to ensure that aid is received in the Gaza Strip and distributed.